I'm 74. I fell in love with New Orleans Dixieland and Ragtime in my teens and Joplin a few years later. I own all of Joplin's commercially available recordings and Bethena is my #1 favorite from Joplin's pen. THANK YOU deeply for publishing your rendition - the most beautiful I have heard anywhere! Going in my Bookmarks for regular return here. Now subscribed also.
As someone else has said, this is, I believe, by far the best rendition of Bethena on the Net. And as this was, after all, apparently written in memory of Joplin's young deceased wife, I believe the emotion and the quiet, sad, ending are perfect. I can't even listen to other renditions. They sound cold and unfeeling and the repetition of the piece becomes annoying. In this one, it doesn't at all. The repetition, because it is done with different feeling, adds all the more to it.
Two comments: 1) very distracting camerawork at the beginning to have one camera panning over the banners at the back of the stage while another is showing the pianist (that's the director or vision mixer who misjudged things); 2) I'm not sure it quite "works" for the pianist to linger over certain notes, delaying some and then having to hurry the following ones to catch up, around 0:55-1:10. Normally it adds expression to playing, but the whole thing with ragtime is that it is built on regular-as-clockwork timing of the left hand. I've not heard any other performance that does this, so it wasn't as written by Scott Joplin but something that the pianist added. Maybe I'm guilty of judging all ragtime against the "standard" of Joshua Rifkin's performances which are the ones I know best having heard them first. Yes, Joplin's second wife died only a few weeks after they'd been married. It makes the minor-key section around 3:30 even more poignant when you know that.
I respectfully disagree. It was played way too fast with a disturbing lack of expression. Until the section in b minor, I felt he was just trying to get it over with. The main theme is marked Cantabile which means in a singing lyrical manor This is one of the only lyrical pieces he wrote and I believe since it's specifically labeled as a Concert Waltz he intended it to be performed as more of a Romantic or Expressionist piece. Especially considering the tragedy that inspired the piece. That makes since due to his personal interaction with Debussy who composed one of the only classical style Ragtime pieces after being introduced and vastly enthralled with Joplin's music. All around, this performance was performed accurately, but overall a very poor performance purely based on his lack of understanding of the piece. With all my rambling said, the most important thing all music is for is to touch the soul of the audience and based on yours and the majority of the comments here he accomplished that.
@@sethagreen Yes I *much* prefer Joshua Rifkin's "definitive" version. None of the "delay and have to hurry to catch up" timing of this version - that is a gimmick and it fails *badly*. The B minor section hits the wrong mood altogether. I think of it as tender and mournful and wistful, but this version has some phrases that sound almost angry or aggressive. The more I listen to it, the more I hate it. The tempo is all over the place - exaggeratedly so. If I didn't know it was a human performance, I could almost imagine a pianola where the operator suddenly decides to turn the handle way too fast ;-) He's taken a beautiful piece - one of Joplin's best - and, sorry to say, he's ruined it. Very poor effort.
@@Mortimer50145 Well said. I love that this piece is still relevant and brings such diverse opinions from the crowd. Just because I don't like a performance doesn't make it a bad one. Quite frankly, I don't believe this piece can be played correctly to begin with including Joplin playing it himself. It's just that good.
I like how it all went back to how it began when he played in the end .. I don't really know much about music or about Joplin but when I did watch a movie called a curious case of Benjamin button this music touched me .. It put a heavy burden on my heart but then again it was so beautiful that I wasn't able to keep myself from knowing all about this music that's how I ended up in this particular video .. I know he's not probably reading this comment but thank you 😊 for this amazing piece
Excellent. So great to hear a legitimate concert pianist tease out the greatness of a Joplin composition. Damerini brings the same sense of integrity to it as he would a Beethoven sonata. BUT, to me he messes up at the end. The last five bars of the coda (after the Andante) are supposed to return to Tempo Primo (the original tempo), whereas Damerini seems to slow things down even further. I just don't think that's a good decision. What I once heard years ago and like best is if the last five bars are played even faster than Tempo Primo, with a real verve. Anyway, it's only five bars. It didn't wreck the piece, but it might have been better to end with some energy.
I agree mostly, but one thing I think he might have been doing when slowing down at the end was showing a representation if the song's background. Joplin wrote it ten weeks after the death of his wife, which is why it's so melancholy and bittersweet. Ending on an overly energetic note would kind of disconnect the piece from it's background and the atmosphere the pianist created for the rest of the piece (which I completely agree with you about by the way. When most people play this piece, they treat it like most of Joplin's other works, however, this one required something a little more sensitive, you know? He totally brought that to the table)
@@yo_itsjordy9606 When you are a musician it always a battle between what the composer tells you and your interpretation of what they mean. I don't think that there is any right answer. (Except play the entertainer slowly come on he literally tells you to stop slamming your hands on the keys and read the music god)
I'd say "One of Joplin's finest compositions, INcompetently performed." Linger over some notes, by all means, but don't then compensate by reducing the gap between the subsequent notes as if it was a network buffering problem - because that's what it sounds like, whatever his intentions.
@@MinhNguyen-np2gk Sorry to disagree with you, but of the various performances of Bethena that I've heard (Joshua Rifkin, Cory Hall, Phillip Dyson, Evan Spiegel) this one stands out for all the wrong reasons: the "limping" pause-and-hurry-to-catch-up timing and the very unsubtle and gross fluctuations of tempo really do *not* work for me at all. He utterly spoiled a very beautiful piece. But that's only my personal opinion.
I believe that I have heard every recording of this composition posted on RUclips, as I so love listening to it, and this is by far the most moving, emotional, romantic, and provocative interpretation. It made me cry - and I very seldom cry.. I love your balance, dynamics, harmonic effects, and amazingly varied tempi and rubato. I play this myself, and can only dream of producing anything that remotely sounds like your recording. And watching you play this is beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your amazing talent. I would love to see you perform. Do you ever come to Chicago???
Спасибо. 👏💞 Очень приятная, мягкая, изящная и деликатная интерпретация. Немало в сети интерпретаций, к сожалению, довольно резких и бесчувственных.. Это даже вызывает удивление. Какая необходимость делать из такого красивого произведения чуть ли ни "козьи пляски на лугу"?
I agree, I can't see two dancers waltzing to this tempo. Ragtime is frequently played too fast but this performer goes a little too far in the opposite direction.
A nice version, but too much artistic license I think. Joplin's directions are ignored almost throughout -an accelerando and a sforzando after the repeat, in the B minor section? Nope, not stylistically nor textually correct. If you want to play a piece like that, stick to Chopin!
@@j.g.bloodworth9837 Doesn't matter. Ragtime needs a constant regular-as-clockwork left hand. By all means vary the tempo gradually, but don't delay individual notes and then have to play catch-up to get back in time as he does around 0:55-1:10. It really doesn't work for this piece of music. If he had not been a highly skilled pianist, it would almost sound as if he was slowing down for the chords that are most difficult to play ;-) Or am I guilty of judging this performance against the "standard" of the "definitive" Joshua Rifkin performances on the LPs where I first heard ragtime? And, yes, that was in response to the use of The Entertainer in the film The Sting, so I've known those versions since the early 1970s.
Outstanding. This is the tempo and the expression. Bravo!
I'm 74. I fell in love with New Orleans Dixieland and Ragtime in my teens and Joplin a few years later. I own all of Joplin's commercially available recordings and Bethena is my #1 favorite from Joplin's pen. THANK YOU deeply for publishing your rendition - the most beautiful I have heard anywhere! Going in my Bookmarks for regular return here. Now subscribed also.
Scott Joplin would have loved to hear his music played like this almost in a classical style but still retaining the ragtime original fantastic.
Joplin's most beautiful piece.
One of the most astonishing waltzes.
As someone else has said, this is, I believe, by far the best rendition of Bethena on the Net. And as this was, after all, apparently written in memory of Joplin's young deceased wife, I believe the emotion and the quiet, sad, ending are perfect. I can't even listen to other renditions. They sound cold and unfeeling and the repetition of the piece becomes annoying. In this one, it doesn't at all. The repetition, because it is done with different feeling, adds all the more to it.
Two comments: 1) very distracting camerawork at the beginning to have one camera panning over the banners at the back of the stage while another is showing the pianist (that's the director or vision mixer who misjudged things); 2) I'm not sure it quite "works" for the pianist to linger over certain notes, delaying some and then having to hurry the following ones to catch up, around 0:55-1:10. Normally it adds expression to playing, but the whole thing with ragtime is that it is built on regular-as-clockwork timing of the left hand. I've not heard any other performance that does this, so it wasn't as written by Scott Joplin but something that the pianist added.
Maybe I'm guilty of judging all ragtime against the "standard" of Joshua Rifkin's performances which are the ones I know best having heard them first.
Yes, Joplin's second wife died only a few weeks after they'd been married. It makes the minor-key section around 3:30 even more poignant when you know that.
@@Mortimer50145 Right, some parts sound like the pianist is trying to chopinize Joplin.
I respectfully disagree. It was played way too fast with a disturbing lack of expression. Until the section in b minor, I felt he was just trying to get it over with. The main theme is marked Cantabile which means in a singing lyrical manor This is one of the only lyrical pieces he wrote and I believe since it's specifically labeled as a Concert Waltz he intended it to be performed as more of a Romantic or Expressionist piece. Especially considering the tragedy that inspired the piece. That makes since due to his personal interaction with Debussy who composed one of the only classical style Ragtime pieces after being introduced and vastly enthralled with Joplin's music. All around, this performance was performed accurately, but overall a very poor performance purely based on his lack of understanding of the piece. With all my rambling said, the most important thing all music is for is to touch the soul of the audience and based on yours and the majority of the comments here he accomplished that.
@@sethagreen Yes I *much* prefer Joshua Rifkin's "definitive" version. None of the "delay and have to hurry to catch up" timing of this version - that is a gimmick and it fails *badly*.
The B minor section hits the wrong mood altogether. I think of it as tender and mournful and wistful, but this version has some phrases that sound almost angry or aggressive.
The more I listen to it, the more I hate it. The tempo is all over the place - exaggeratedly so. If I didn't know it was a human performance, I could almost imagine a pianola where the operator suddenly decides to turn the handle way too fast ;-)
He's taken a beautiful piece - one of Joplin's best - and, sorry to say, he's ruined it. Very poor effort.
@@Mortimer50145 Well said. I love that this piece is still relevant and brings such diverse opinions from the crowd. Just because I don't like a performance doesn't make it a bad one. Quite frankly, I don't believe this piece can be played correctly to begin with including Joplin playing it himself. It's just that good.
omg you have captured the soul and spirit of this beautiful piece. It is one of my favorite Joplin pieces to play.
What a beautiful style of playing of his!
I like how it all went back to how it began when he played in the end .. I don't really know much about music or about Joplin but when I did watch a movie called a curious case of Benjamin button this music touched me .. It put a heavy burden on my heart but then again it was so beautiful that I wasn't able to keep myself from knowing all about this music that's how I ended up in this particular video ..
I know he's not probably reading this comment but thank you 😊 for this amazing piece
I guess the piece also summarizes life. After all the melodic journeys well will all go to the same melody in the end.
The most thoughtful interpretation I've ever heard!
I'm playing this piece at a piano trio and how beautiful its sound to hear it just on the piano. Absolutely lovely x
Excellent. So great to hear a legitimate concert pianist tease out the greatness of a Joplin composition. Damerini brings the same sense of integrity to it as he would a Beethoven sonata. BUT, to me he messes up at the end. The last five bars of the coda (after the Andante) are supposed to return to Tempo Primo (the original tempo), whereas Damerini seems to slow things down even further. I just don't think that's a good decision. What I once heard years ago and like best is if the last five bars are played even faster than Tempo Primo, with a real verve.
Anyway, it's only five bars. It didn't wreck the piece, but it might have been better to end with some energy.
I agree mostly, but one thing I think he might have been doing when slowing down at the end was showing a representation if the song's background. Joplin wrote it ten weeks after the death of his wife, which is why it's so melancholy and bittersweet. Ending on an overly energetic note would kind of disconnect the piece from it's background and the atmosphere the pianist created for the rest of the piece (which I completely agree with you about by the way. When most people play this piece, they treat it like most of Joplin's other works, however, this one required something a little more sensitive, you know? He totally brought that to the table)
@@yo_itsjordy9606 When you are a musician it always a battle between what the composer tells you and your interpretation of what they mean. I don't think that there is any right answer.
(Except play the entertainer slowly come on he literally tells you to stop slamming your hands on the keys and read the music god)
Best performance I've seen yet.
One of Joplin's finest compositions, competently performed. Thank you for posting.
I'd say "One of Joplin's finest compositions, INcompetently performed." Linger over some notes, by all means, but don't then compensate by reducing the gap between the subsequent notes as if it was a network buffering problem - because that's what it sounds like, whatever his intentions.
@@Mortimer50145 keep walkin Mort
Just perfect, man.
Absolutely beautiful!
I like parts 0:02 to 5:41. They are really the best parts of that song. In every not he shows emotion.
I wonder why this doesn't have more views. It's the best interpretation of this beautiful song.
minggggg
there are a lot of videos of the this beautiful song being played
@@MinhNguyen-np2gk Sorry to disagree with you, but of the various performances of Bethena that I've heard (Joshua Rifkin, Cory Hall, Phillip Dyson, Evan Spiegel) this one stands out for all the wrong reasons: the "limping" pause-and-hurry-to-catch-up timing and the very unsubtle and gross fluctuations of tempo really do *not* work for me at all. He utterly spoiled a very beautiful piece. But that's only my personal opinion.
So smooth. Lovely. Thank you.
Best rendition I have heard. Moving nuanced interruption
A very expressive performance of this beautiful waltz. Many thanks. Eero
You're style is excellent!!!
I believe that I have heard every recording of this composition posted on RUclips, as I so love listening to it, and this is by far the most moving, emotional, romantic, and provocative interpretation. It made me cry - and I very seldom cry.. I love your balance, dynamics, harmonic effects, and amazingly varied tempi and rubato. I play this myself, and can only dream of producing anything that remotely sounds like your recording. And watching you play this is beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your amazing talent. I would love to see you perform. Do you ever come to Chicago???
Идеальное исполнение Бетены!!! Я ее играла, когда училась в музыкальной школе. Как это было давно!!!
Scott Joplin that were famous for ragtime syncopation in 2/4, wrote his masterpiece in 3/4, that is a waltz... nice, isn't it?
Gorgeous
Beautiful!
best performance of bethena on the web
No es mi interpretación preferida pero sin duda alguna es una muy buena interpretación que muestra verdadero sentimiento al tocar la obra.
i don't always agree with hs interpretation but respect him for having a point of view an executing well
A Classical music version of Joplin music.
Спасибо. 👏💞
Очень приятная, мягкая, изящная и деликатная интерпретация.
Немало в сети интерпретаций, к сожалению, довольно резких и бесчувственных..
Это даже вызывает удивление.
Какая необходимость делать из такого красивого произведения чуть ли ни "козьи пляски на лугу"?
🔥piece
Much better than the one's that i have been seeing... A lot more emotion.
For this kind of compositions, there are too many versions out there. It's so hard to find the original version or the best version...
You decide which version you like the best.
like it so much
maybe it is just me but I can not connect the fingers with the sound. seems there is a sync error.
Yep, some mistake with the synchro
Most visible after 3:24.
This sounds like a song that would have been played on the titanic on the grand staircase
Too much shifting tempo. I prefer more subtle changes to get the feeling.
I inly wish that the video and sound were in synch...
me like ! :o)
great playing with nice touch, but a little draggy for me.
I agree, I can't see two dancers waltzing to this tempo. Ragtime is frequently played too fast but this performer goes a little too far in the opposite direction.
@@davmar9923 it's supposed to be slow, he composed the song for his young wife whom passed away right after they were married.
@@Angel-tw3ko There's slow and then there's s-l-o-o-o-w.
Por que ese acelerando!!!
Had to slow it down because it sounded like he wanted to get the song out of the way. He played it will but a bit too fast.
A nice version, but too much artistic license I think. Joplin's directions are ignored almost throughout -an accelerando and a sforzando after the repeat, in the B minor section? Nope, not stylistically nor textually correct. If you want to play a piece like that, stick to Chopin!
ottimo rubato!!
Good, but Albright is the master.
Who came here because of the Benjamin button?
Me
爽死了q
Way too uneven and constantly shifting tempos. The opposite of what Ragtime calls for. Yeesh.
I agree but this particular song is a waltz.
@@j.g.bloodworth9837 Doesn't matter. Ragtime needs a constant regular-as-clockwork left hand. By all means vary the tempo gradually, but don't delay individual notes and then have to play catch-up to get back in time as he does around 0:55-1:10. It really doesn't work for this piece of music. If he had not been a highly skilled pianist, it would almost sound as if he was slowing down for the chords that are most difficult to play ;-)
Or am I guilty of judging this performance against the "standard" of the "definitive" Joshua Rifkin performances on the LPs where I first heard ragtime? And, yes, that was in response to the use of The Entertainer in the film The Sting, so I've known those versions since the early 1970s.
I fully agree. Of all the performances of Bethena that I've heard, this one is the worst by far.
What a beautiful style of playing of his!